Robert Fisk and his hatred of America

Scanlas The 2nd · 17-02-2011 12:25PM #1

Everything I can remember reading from this man has been in condemnation of America. I basically think the man hates America because they are the most powerful nation in the world so he spins his articles against America.

Thoughts on this?

MagicMarker · 17-02-2011 12:26PM

Fúck yeah!!

orourkeda · 17-02-2011 12:26PM

Maybe he does but what he says is usually correct

thebigbiffo · 17-02-2011 12:27PM

he's only human....right?

Jimmy the Wheel · 17-02-2011 12:27PM

He's not a fan of succesive American administrations, nor their foreign policies, might be a little more accurate to say.

shampon · 17-02-2011 12:30PM

I'm sure he just hates the Americans failure to change anything despite their huge influence.

landsleaving · 17-02-2011 12:32PM

USA! USA! USA!

PandyAndy · 17-02-2011 12:34PM

I have 'The Great War for Civilisation: The Conquest of the Middle East' at home. Never got around to reading it. Must do so once I finish the Wheel of Time... in a few years.

Sanjuro · 17-02-2011 12:34PM

Scanlas The 2nd wrote: »

Everything I can remember reading from this man has been in condemnation of America. I basically think the man hates America because they are the most powerful nation in the world so he spins his articles against America.

Thoughts on this?

Yeah, it's bullshit.

He no more hates America than anyone else that objectively observes the activities of the American government and it's foreign policies.

Would you care to provide some evidence of this 'hatred,' or will you just rely on groundless accusations?

snubbleste · 17-02-2011 12:34PM

One of the most respected journalists in the world.

mike65 · 17-02-2011 12:35PM

He doesn't hate the USA, only its foreign policies.

ejmaztec · 17-02-2011 12:35PM

shampon wrote: »

I'm sure he just hates the Americans failure to change anything despite their huge influence bombs.

fyp

Sticky_Fingers · 17-02-2011 12:36PM

Well from his perspective as a journalist who primarily concerns himself with the Middle East perhaps his condemnations and criticisms are justified considering the many disastrous policies followed by successive US administrations over the years.

thebigbiffo · 17-02-2011 12:43PM

do you know any other 'western' journalists with an apartment in Beirut?

'nuff said imo

biko · 17-02-2011 12:46PM

He'd fit right in here in AH so.

wes · 17-02-2011 12:48PM

I see no evidence of this hatred personally. Also, he hardly just condemns the US, a lot of the ME autocratic regimes, are also often on the recieving end as well.

RichieC · 17-02-2011 12:51PM

boohoo poor america, will they ever catch a break :C

Badgermonkey · 17-02-2011 12:52PM

Hang on now, hate is an emotive word.

He is highly critical of American and Israeli policy and of the influence the Likud lobby exerts on Capitol hill.

The corruption, violence and lack of human rights in the Arab states has also been a consistent theme in his writing, lest that be forgotten.

Chimichangas · 17-02-2011 01:05PM

PandyAndy wrote: »

I have 'The Great War for Civilisation: The Conquest of the Middle East' at home. Never got around to reading it. Must do so once I finish the Wheel of Time... in a few years.

Its a tough but very interesting read! at tleast up until p.800...i didnt get round to finishing it yet.:o

prinz · 17-02-2011 01:07PM

Robert Fisk loves Robert Fisk and objects to anything outside of Robert Fisk's view of the world. I feel he's far more interested in provoking a reaction than any sort of attempt to actually change people's opinions. He'll talk non-stop about the evils of 'the west' and then tack-on a token aside in relation to the other side which really isn't good enough.

(You'll rarely if ever hear him say anything positive about the US.)

TheRevolution · 17-02-2011 01:19PM

Robert Fisk doesn't hate America he just disagrees with a lot of their foreign policy. Hes equally critical of Israel, Hamas, Hezbollah (which is quite brave of him considering he lives in Beirut), Syria and Iran.
Robert Fisk calls it as he sees it. A lot of the time he may focus on America and Israel but thats only because they are generally at the centre of everything.

I do find it quite funny how Israel defend their indiscriminate attacks on Gaza by arguing that Gazan terrorists are firing rockets indiscriminatly at Israeli villages - I mean one group is a suicide bombing terrorist organization and the other is a supposedly westernized, developed nation. It's a pretty pathetic argument to be honest and Robert Fisk continuously brings it up. It would be like the British government during the the 70s and 80s collaborating to detonate a carbomb in Dublin deliberately targetting civillians because of the actions of the IRA...........oh wait.

Lumen · 17-02-2011 01:21PM

Robert Fisk is consistent. When you see the byline, you know exactly what you're going to get.

Chimichangas · 17-02-2011 01:23PM

Yeah I dont think he hates America at all!
just like a lot of people he has little time for mixed messages and untruths or ommissions from the US government that unfortunately comes across as using the pretense of standing up for freedom and democracy, to serve its own needs...

e.g. the coalition encouraged the marsh arabs to rise up after 1st Iraq war and then abandoned them to be massacred.
e.g. was slow to encourage the popular movements in Tunis and Egypt, until outcome seemed inevitable
e.g. and then tells countries not to be hypocritical by putting down democracy protests with violence, but to allow freedom of expression

I look forward to seeing the reaction to what is now going on in Bahrain now from both Fisk, and the US government, considering the US Naval fleet for gulf is stationed there..

FlutterinBantam · 17-02-2011 01:37PM

Sanjuro wrote: »

Yeah, it's bullshit.

He no more hates America than anyone else that objectively observes the activities of the American government and it's foreign policies.

Would you care to provide some evidence of this 'hatred,' or will you just rely on groundless accusations?

Groundless my bollox.

The guy obviously reads his articles like I do, and has come to the same conclusion.

What do you people want, The US to ignore the freeworld and just look after itself.

Get a grip man.

Sticky_Fingers · 17-02-2011 01:40PM

FlutterinBantam wrote: »

Groundless my bollox.

The guy obviously reads his articles like I do, and has come to the same conclusion.

What do you people want, The US to ignore the freeworld and just look after itself.

Get a grip man.

Yes please, it's not really a free world if you have big brother looking over your shoulder and gently prodding you to take their preferred course of action. They really don't care about spreading the bright light of Western democracy anyway, they just look after themselves.

ejmaztec · 17-02-2011 01:43PM

thebigbiffo wrote: »

do you know any other 'western' journalists with an apartment in Beirut?

'nuff said imo

There were a few in the 80s living rent-free in Beirut apartments, but they weren't allowed to leave them until the ransom monies were handed over.:eek:

liah · 17-02-2011 01:46PM

It's not the job of the U.S. to police politics in other countries, end of.

Sanjuro · 17-02-2011 01:47PM

FlutterinBantam wrote: »

Groundless my bollox.

The guy obviously reads his articles like I do, and has come to the same conclusion.

What do you people want, The US to ignore the freeworld and just look after itself.

Get a grip man.

I read his articles myself, and there's a massive difference between hatred and objective analysis. There's not a shred of evidence that points to Fisk hating America in anything he writes. That use of that type of language, especially the word hate is used by extremists and people who cant be bothered to try and offer a reasonable argument.

The US is looking after itself all right. All it cares about is it's own self-interests. The whole notion of 'spreading democracy' is both groundless and ludicrous. But they'll go ahead an spread their brand of democracy where ever it's interests are served. You don't ever see them rushing to offer assistance when genuine democracy pops up. And that, correctly, is a big part of Fisk's argument.

El Siglo · 17-02-2011 01:47PM

Op, go read; "The Great War for Civilisation: The Conquest of the Middle East" by Fisk, and see what you think of him then. This is a retarded thread.

prinz · 17-02-2011 01:48PM

Sticky_Fingers wrote: »

They really don't care about spreading the bright light of Western democracy anyway, they just look after themselves.

As well as being the world's primary aid donor.

Sticky_Fingers · 17-02-2011 01:50PM

prinz wrote: »

As well as being the world's primary aid donor.

Yeah, most of their aid goes to Israel:

*Edit* Correction Israel is the biggest recipient, it does not get the majority of US foreign aid

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3362402,00.html

Robert Fisk and his hatred of America

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